Network operators and other service providers are able to offer a range of different communication services to end-users, which is possible as new technologies allow for increased capacity in the networks and more and more advanced end-user devices are introduced on the market. For example, broadband services are being developed which can be realized by means of an access device to which end-users can connect their equipment in order to communicate data packets with different service nodes in a communication services network when using corresponding communication services.
The access device, e.g. a so-called “Broadband Network Access Device (BNAD)” or similar, provides a link to the service network and can basically be owned and controlled by a service provider, such as a network operator, and may be installed on the premises of a household, office, enterprise, etc., where end-users are located when using the services. Effectively, the access device works as an access bridge between the end-user equipment and the service network, as schematically illustrated by an example in FIG. 1. In the following description, the generic term “user device” is used to represent any consumer equipment that can be used by end-users for taking part in communication services. Further, the generic term “access device” represents a BNAD or any equivalent node capable of transferring data packets between one or more end-user devices and a communication services network.
In this figure, a household 100 has an access device 102, e.g. a BNAD, installed which provides access to various services in a service network 104, and the device 102 may be controlled by an operator offering the services to end-users, e.g. those present in the household 100. In this example, three different user devices are shown in household 100, including a TV set, a PC (Personal Computer) and a telephone. The access device 102 has multiple connection ports P1, P2, P3, . . . to which end-users in the household 100 can connect their devices, as indicated by dashed lines. In conventional access devices having such multiple connection ports, each port is dedicated and coupled to a specific service in the network 104, here exemplified as IPTV (Internet Protocol TV), Internet access and VoIP (Voice over IP).
The ports P1, P2, P3, . . . are linked to an Access Network Interface “ANI” which is configured to join each port to its corresponding service in network 104. The connection ports are commonly also referred to as “UNI” (User Network Interface). Such differentiated ports for different services are required as the service traffic over the access device 102 typically must be treated differently depending on the service and type of user device.
The service network 104 requires that packets communicated with the user devices have so-called VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network) tags identifying or indicating the type of service of the packets and also indicating a traffic priority, in order to properly handle and switch the packets to a correct destination, which is common for such service networks. However, most types of user devices are not configured to use VLAN tags when communicating packets, and in that case the access device 102 must add such VLAN tags to outgoing packets (upstream) coming from the user devices, and remove VLAN tags from incoming packets (downstream) coming from service network 104. The handling of VLAN tags in data packets is thus dependent on which port the packets are communicated.
Consequently, it is required that the end-user connects a particular user device to the correct port in order to access a corresponding service in network 104, which is necessary since different packet handling rules must be applied for different services as explained above. In other words, it is necessary to handle the packets depending on what type of user device will be connected, which is not known to the operator when configuring the access device before installation. If the access device has equivalent ports with the same packet handling rules configured, it would only be possible to provide a single corresponding service.
In this access device 102, port P1 provides access to the IPTV service, port P2 provides access to the Internet service, and port P3 provides access to the VoIP service, the ports P1-P3 being configured differently. The user devices must therefore be connected accordingly to obtain access to the services and to ensure that proper VLAN tags are used in the packets outside the household 100. The ports may be marked with different colors or similar to help the user connect the devices to the correct ports.
Nevertheless, having such dedicated ports in the access device 102 entails a potential risk for human errors, i.e. a user device may unwittingly be connected by the user to the wrong port so that the wanted service cannot be provided. This behaviour may result in unnecessary frustration and even calls to a help desk or the like in some cases.
FIG. 2 illustrates another use case where a household 200 comprises a local network with user devices connected to a residential gateway (RGW) 204 which is linked to an access device 202 by a single cable connected to a single port in the access device 202, device 202 providing access to services in a service network 104. In this case, the RGW 204 is configured to add and remove VLAN tags to upstream and downstream packets, respectively, since the access device 202 is basically unaware of which type of user device is currently communicating through the single cable and port. The RGW 204 also uses the VLAN tags in incoming downstream packets to identify the services for determining which user device to send the packets to, and also to set different priorities to different traffic streams over the same physical interface and cable.
On the other hand, if a user device is connected directly to access device 202 and sends untagged upstream packets, the access device 202 could be configured with software capable of identifying the type of device and adding corresponding VLAN tags to the upstream packets. Alternatively, the access device 202 may add operator-defined default tags to outgoing packets, which correspond to a specific service, e.g. Internet access. However, access device 202 may not know whether to remove VLAN tags from downstream packets or not, as it is unaware of the capabilities of a directly connected user device which may or may not be configured to receive and understand VLAN tagged packets.
In either case, the operator is able to configure the access device 102, 202 to handle the traffic of packets to/from the household depending on the VLAN tags, e.g. using a filtering mechanism in access device 102, 202 when incoming downstream packets with certain approved VLAN tags are forwarded to corresponding user devices, while incoming packets with non-approved or no VLAN tags will be discarded altogether. In this process, the VLAN tag of an incoming downstream packet may be matched to a VLAN filtering table in the access device 102, listing all allowed VLAN tags.
It has been identified as a problem that it is difficult to configure an access device, such as a BNAD, to cope with any of the above cases in an efficient, flexible and user-friendly manner. On one hand, it is possible to implement a software-executed solution in the access device to provide a flexible mechanism for adding and removing proper VLAN tags on a per packet basis so that varied tagging rules are applied per packet, allowing for different connections of user devices to any ports in the access device. However, this processing of each packet is somewhat time-consuming and will inevitably result in relatively slow and limited packet throughput or bandwidth, thus not allowing for e.g. high speed data traffic.
On the other hand, it is possible to implement a fixed configuration in dedicated hardware in the access device for handling packets in a static manner, effectively allowing for high throughput or bandwidth. However, this would not allow for switching between different connection scenarios of user devices, e.g. as exemplified above, unless the hardware configuration in the access device is also changed accordingly for each scenario, which is deemed unpractical since manual action by the operator is required, most likely triggered by complaint from the user that the service does not work. The current hardware solutions as such are thus generally not responsive to differentiated traffic, e.g. when the connection of user devices to different ports is changed.